Schmidt hit
.244 in 1907. As a young man, Schmidt worked in the coal mines and
was a skilled brawler who fought an exhibition match with the
heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. [1] Schmidt also
beat Ty Cobb in at least two
fights. [2]. In the second
fight, Schmidt knocked Cobb unconscious but admired Cobb's
resiliency, and the two became friends until Schmidt's death in
1932. Schmidt never wore shinguards and could force nails into the
floor with his bare fists. [3]

Infield: Rossman, Downs, O'Leary, Coughlin, and
Schaefer

First basemanClaude Rossman
played for the Tigers from 1907-1909. In 1907, Rossman
hit .277 and had 69 RBIs—third most on the team after Cobb and
Crawford. Rossman had a peculiar emotional quirk where he sometimes
froze and could not throw the ball when he became excited. Runners
would lead off first to draw a throw from the pitcher, then run to
second when Rossman froze. [4] He was 28 when
he played his last major league game and died at age 46 in a New
York hospital for the insane where he had been a patient for
several years.

Red Downs and Germany
Schaefer platooned at the second base position for the Tigers
in 1907 and 1908. Downs hit .219 in 1907 with 42 RBIs and 28 runs
scored. In March 1932, Downs and another man robbed a jewelry store
at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Downs was convicted of
first-degree robbery and sentenced to five years to life. He was
paroled after 3-1/2 years and returned to Iowa.

Germany Schaefer

Charley O'Leary

Germany
Schaefer was a backup second baseman and utility infielder for
the 1907 Tigers. He played 74 games at second base, 18 at
shortstop, and 14 at third base. Schaefer is remembered more for
his antics than for his performance on the field, including trying
to steal first base (from second base) and, coming to bat in the
rain with a raincoat and boots (to persuade the umpire to call the
games). Schaefer was a pioneer of baseball clowning, and his vaudeville act with
teammate Charley O'Leary was inspiration for the
MGMmusical film
"Take Me Out To The Ball Game" starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.[5] In 1919, a
little over a year after Schaefer played his last game, he died at
age 42 of tuberculosis at the sanitarium in Saranac Lake, New York.

Charley
O'Leary was Detroit's starting shortstop from 1904-1907. In
1907, he hit .241 and scored 61 runs. On September 30, 1934,
O'Leary pinch hit for the St. Louis Browns at age 51 and became
one of the oldest players to collect a hit and score a run.

Third basemanBill Coughlin,
known as "Scranton Bill," was named team captain in 1907 and 1908.
He was a light-hitting defensive player, who never hit higher than
.252 for the Tigers. His 232 putouts in 1901 is the 8th highest
single season total in history by a major league third baseman. He
is also one of the few MLB players to have stolen 2nd base, 3rd
base and home in a single game. Coughlin was also the maestro of
the hidden
ball trick. Although no known comprehensive list is known to
exist of all times when the hidden ball trick has worked, Coughlin
reportedly pulled it off seven times (and at three different
positions) -- more than any other player in MLB history. [6][7] In Game 2 of
the 1907
World Series, Coughlin caught Jimmy Slagle with a hidden ball
trick, the only one in World Series history. [8]

Outfield: Cobb, Crawford
and Jones

1907 was Ty Cobb's first
as an every-day starter. He won his first batting crown with a .350
average and led the American League in RBIs (119), slugging
percentage (.468), hits (212), total bases (283), stolen bases
(49), and runs created (106).

Davy Jones played for the Tigers
from 1906-1912. With Cobb and Crawford solidly entrenched in the
outfield, Jones was forced to battle for the third outfield spot
with Matty
McIntyre each year from 1906-1910. As a speedy leadoff man, he
was a reliable run scorer with Cobb and Crawford following him in
the lineup. Jones' speed also made him a fine outfielder, with
tremendous range In 1907, he finished second in the AL with 101
runs. In his three World Series for the Tigers, Jones played in 18
games, had a .357 on base percentage, scored 8 runs, and had a home
run in the 1909 World Series against the Pittsburgh
Pirates.

Pitching:
Mullin, Killian, Siever, and Donovan

"Wild Bill" Donovan was
the Tigers ace in 1907 with a 25-4 record—the best win percentage
in Tigers' team history. On May 7, 1906, Donovan stole second base,
third base, and home on the front end of a double steal and also
hit a triple in the same game. [10] In June 1923, Donovan died in a train wreck.
[11]Ed Killian led the team
(and was 2nd in the AL) with a 1.78 ERA and compiled a 25-13
record. Killian's career ERA of 2.38 is tied for 24th best in MLB
history. [12] Killian also
holds the record for fewest home runs allowed, giving up only 9 in
his entire career. At one point, Killian pitched a record 1001
innings (from Sept. 1903 - Aug. 1907) without allowing a home run.
[13]

George Mullin won 20 games in
1907, but he also lost 20 games. His ERA of 2.59 was the highest
among the four Detroit starting pitchers. Mullin holds the Detroit Tigers
franchise record for innings pitched (in a career and in a season)
and has the second most wins in the team's history. He also pitched
the team's first no-hitter; had five 20-win seasons (including a
league-leading 29 wins in 1909; twice hit over .310 as a batter;
and ranks 7th in major league history for fielding assists by a
pitcher.

Hughie
"Ee-yah" Jennings led the Tigers to three consecutive American League
pennants, in 1907-08-09. Jennings continued to manage the
Tigers through the 1920 season, though his team never won another
pennant. During his years as Detroit’s manager, Jennings became
famous for his antics, mostly in the third base coaching box, which
variously included shouts of “Ee-Yah,” and other
whoops, whistles, horns, gyrations, jigs, and grass-plucking. The
"Ee-Yah" whoop became his trademark and was accompanied with waves
of both arms over his head and a sharp raising of his right knee.
In 1907, he was suspended for taunting opponents with a tin
whistle. [14] The "Ee-Yah"
shouts continued and became such a trademark that Jennings became
known as Hughie "Ee-Yah" Jennings, and Detroit fans would shout
"Ee-Yah" when Jennings would appear on the field. [15][16] (See also Jack
Smile, Ee-yah: The Life And Times Of Hughie Jennings, Baseball
Hall Of Famer)

Season
summary

The 1907 season was the first year the Tigers won the American
League pennant. Their 1907 record of 92-58
was the team's best record to that point. Led by Ty Cobb, who led the American League in batting
average (Cobb's first batting crown), RBIs, and slugging
percentage, and Sam
Crawford, who led the league in runs scored and extra base
hits, they scored 89 more runs than any other team in the American
League and outscored their opponents 694 to 532. They finished
1-1/2 games ahead of the A's.

The 1907 Tigers' winning percentage ranks as the 9th best in
team history, as follows:

Season
Highlights

September 27: The Tigers beat the A's, 5-4‚ to take over first
place.

September 30: The Tigers and A's, battling for the pennant,
play to a 17-inning 9-9 tie in one of the most momorable games of
the 1907 season. In the first game of a planned double header‚ the
A's got off to a 7-1 lead against "Wild Bill" Donovan. The
Tigers came back to tie the game, 8-8, against Rube Waddell, on a
two-run home run by Ty Cobb.
Both teams scored once in the 11th, and an umpire's ruling cost
Philadelphia the game in the 14th inning. Harry Davis hit a
long fly. Detroit outfielder Sam Crawford went to the crowd's edge‚ and
a policeman stood up and moved‚ either to interfere or to get out
of the way. Home plate umpire Silk O'Loughlin ruled there was no
interference‚ then reversed his ruling when base umpire Tom Connolly offered
a different opinion. The game was called because of darkness in the
17th‚ a 9-9 tie. The Tigers‚ in first place‚ left for Washington
where they won four games.

October 2: The Tigers swept a double header against Washington‚
winning 9-5 and 10-2. Ty Cobb got his 200th hit.

World
series

World
Series summary

In the 1907 World Series, the Chicago Cubs beat the Tigers 4
games to none (with one tie).

With pitching dominance over the Tigers and Cobb, the Cubs
allowed only three runs in the four games they won, while stealing
18 bases off the rattled Tigers.

In Game 1, Tigers pitcher Bill Donovan struck out twelve Cubs in
12 innings. The Tigers scored three runs, in part due to three
Chicago errors, in the 8th inning and held a 3-1 lead going into
the bottom of the 9th. The Cubs loaded the bases on a single, walk
and infield error with one out. Detroit conceded a run on a ground
ball for the second out and Cub player-manager Frank Chance then
used pinch-hitter Del
Howard to bat for Joe
Tinker. Howard struck out against "Wild" Bill Donovan (25–4
in the regular season) but the ball got away from catcher Boss Schmidt,
allowing Harry
Steinfeldt to score the tying run. Donovan got the next batter
but the damage to Detroit has been done. The teams then played
three scoreless innings before the game was called on account of
darkness and declared a tie, a first for the World Series.

In Game 2, George Mullin, a 20 game
winner and loser for Detroit in 1907 and who had walked over 100
batters in each of his last five seasons, issues a bases-loaded
walk in the 2nd inning to tie the game at 1-1. Chicago scored two
more in the 4th on a single, sacrifice bunt, RBI single, stolen
base and double to take a 3-1 lead.

In Game 3, Cubs pitcher Ed Reulbach scattered six hits as Chicago
jumped on Tiger starter Ed
Siever for four runs on seven hits in only four innings. Johnny Evers has
three hits, including two doubles, as the Cubs took a 2-0 lead in
the series.

In Game 4, Detroit held a 1-0 lead on a triple by Ty Cobb and an RBI single by Claude Rossman
before a rain delay in the 5th inning. When play resumed, Chicago
baserunners reached via an error and a walk. After Joe Tinker sacrificed,
pitcher Orval
Overall drove both runners home on a single to right field. The
Cubs scored three more in the 7th without hitting the ball out of
the infield on four bunts (two for hits) and two ground balls.

In Game 5, Chicago wrapped up the series with a 2-0 victory as
Mordecai Brown
pitched a seven-hit shutout. The Cubs scored a run in the first
inning on a walk, stolen base and RBI single by Harry
Steinfeldt and scored again in the 2nd on an error, a single, a
double-steal and a ground ball out to drive in the final run.
Detroit had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out in the 4th inning,
but could not score and never seriously threatened after that.